Foul call in merged-turf war

The last thing state House Democratic Leader Frank Dermody probably wanted this week was to deal with a turf battle between two fellow House Democrats in the county where he grew up.

Believing state Rep. Frank Farina dispatched staff members to disrupt his Nov. 21 Dunmore town- hall meeting on health care and tax reform, state Rep. Kevin Haggerty filed a complaint with the House leader.

"Rep. Farina's chief of staff, a gentleman by the name of Dave Valvano, was simply following orders from his boss. They were ordered to disrupt the meeting and disrupt it they did," Mr. Haggerty charged in the complaint. "Dressed in disguises ... members of Mr. Farina's staff, including Valvano, started filming the meeting and shouting out questions that did not pertain to healthcare or tax reform. I would have ignored this violation, like all of the other stunts Farina and his staff have pulled, but this time Farina's office went too far and actually posted video, comments and insults regarding another member of the Democratic caucus and then went to the media with it."

Mr. Haggerty accused Mr. Farina of violating House ethics rules.

For the uninitiated, this little dust-up stems from reapportionment.

Post-2010 census reapportionment combined part of the 112th House District that Mr. Haggerty represents and the 115th District that Mr. Farina represents into a new 112th. That means Mr. Farina's home in Jessup and Mr. Haggerty's home in Dunmore are in the same district. If they want to remain in the House, they have to run against each other in the Democratic primary election next year.

That backdrop explains why Mr. Valvano showed up at Mr. Haggerty's town hall and why Mr. Haggerty later complained about it.

Last week's column focused on people at the town hall who questioned why Mr. Haggerty was there instead of in Harrisburg voting on a huge transportation bill. Though he was at the meeting, Mr. Valvano denies knowing the people who asked the questions and recorded Mr. Haggerty's answers, but he emailed The Times-Tribune just before the town hall to let us know Mr. Haggerty wasn't in Harrisburg. The Times-Tribune later obtained a recording of the meeting.

The column said Mr. Haggerty will run and predicted the contest's dooziness. After the column ran, Mr. Haggerty vehemently argued he hasn't made up his mind about running for re-election, which almost no one believes, including us. He was so incensed by the column that he called Roderick's cell phone seven times between 6 and 7 a.m. last Saturday. Later in the day, he filed the complaint.

Yep, he's obviously not running for another term.

Mr. Haggerty told Mr. Dermody he would have fired any staff member who did what Mr. Farina's staff did.

"These actions must be addressed immediately," he wrote in his complaint to the leader.

They were.

Mr. Dermody's office dismissed Mr. Haggerty's complaint.

"We reviewed the incident and determined that there was no violation of state ethics laws or House rules," House Democratic Caucus spokesman Bill Patton wrote in an email Thursday.

Mr. Farina denied this week that he sent Mr. Valvano or anyone else to Mr. Haggerty's meeting.

"After state time, they're free to do whatever they want," he said of his staff. "I do want to stress the point that our number one legislative duty is to vote, and I was in Harrisburg doing my job (at the time of the meeting)."

If he didn't order Mr. Valvano to the meeting, he sure wants to keep that voting issue alive a lot.

Considering both their jobs are on the line next year, it's a little hard to believe Mr. Farina had nothing to do with Mr. Valvano attending the town hall.

By the way, Mr. Haggerty argues that the vote that really decided the transportation bill was two days earlier. He was there for that vote. He said the House vote the night of his town hall was a foregone conclusion and he didn't want to ignore constituents who looked forward to the town hall, which was planned for two months. Mr. Farina voted both times.

Reminded his complaint to Mr. Dermody was dismissed, Mr. Haggerty insisted Friday Mr. Valvano lied to the House investigator by saying he did not know the people who disrupted and recorded the meeting. Those people wore disguises, "hats, glasses, hoods," Mr. Haggerty said.

"They (the House investigator) substantiated that my story is true and that the other side is lying," he said, referring to Mr. Valvano's denial about knowing the people who asked questions.

Mr. Patton said he could not confirm the House investigator determined that. Efforts to obtain comment from Mr. Valvano and further comment from Mr. Farina were unsuccessful.

Though Mr. Valvano denies knowing the people, Mr. Haggerty says they gave Mr. Valvano the phones they used to record the meeting.

Told Mr. Farina said he doesn't control what his staff does on its off-duty hours, Mr. Haggerty said he doesn't believe it.

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.